State's top judge says a third of Madison County court employees face layoffs in proposed budget

View full sizeAlabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb said Tuesday that the $138.9 million for state courts in proposed 2011-12 General Fund Budget would be a $13.1 million cut from this year's $152 million appropriation. (The Huntsville Times/File photo)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - More than a third of the court employees in the Madison County Courthouse could be laid off if the proposed state General Fund budget for next year is adopted, according to the state's top judge.

Alabama Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb said at a Tuesday news conference in Montgomery that at least 254 court employees across the state and 25 employees in the Administrative Office of the Courts would be laid off before Oct. 1 if the budget is adopted.

According to Cobb, 14 of Madison County's 41 court employees would be laid off if the proposed budget is adopted.

Cobb said in a statement that she doesn't envy the Legislature's task of writing a budget with the state in a financial crisis.

"However, the funding for the courts in the proposed budget is neither adequate nor reasonable for the courts to be open to provide a remedy by due process of law to every person for any injury as required by our state's constitution."

At the news conference, Cobb didn't rule out the possibility of the state's judges going to court for force the Legislature to increase the appropriation for the judicial system, The Associated Press reported.

Going to court is an option because the state Constitution requires "adequate" funding of courts, she said. All nine state Supreme Court justices would have to decide to go to court, Cobb said.

The House of Representatives and the Senate adopted different versions of a General Fund budget for 2022-12, but their budgets both would appropriate $138.9 million for the state's local courts. That's the same amount in Gov. Robert Bentley's recommended budget, said Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, chairman of the Senate General Fund Budget Committee.

Cobb said the proposed appropriation would be a $13.1 million decrease from the $152 million appropriation in the budget adopted for this year. But proration in the General Fund budget reduced the actual appropriation for this year to $127 million.

A conference committee is working out a compromise budget for both houses to consider.